My next CNC project - a CNC router

Bunch of progress on finishing up the electronics enclosure.
Stepper driver cables in and secured.
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All cable glands except for the limit switches are in.
Top is spindle cable from the VFD, then stepper drivers, Ethernet cable and power.
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Estop and on/off switches are in and correctly actuating the contactor.
Need to hit the panel with Scotchbrite again to remove the scuff.
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Had a big breakthrough with the UCCNC software tonight. I was struggling to get soft limits working. If I homed and then enabled soft limits I would get a message that a soft limit had been reached. Which didn't make any sense to me as the machine was at zero on all axes.

Turns out that homing in UCCNC doesn't automatically zero the machine coordinates. There’s a checkbox on each axis to zero that axis' machine coordinates when homed. Checked them for all axes and entered the travel distances and now my soft limits work. Pretty darn happy about that!
 
Another big progress step.
I was struggling to get my AXBB-E board and UCCNC software to control my VFD which powers the spindle.
A bunch of research gave me some direction.
In the end I used the following connections:

VFD --> AXBB-E
VI ---> AO1
GND ---> 5V0 (from 5V power out not 5V0 Port 1)
XGND ---> 24V0 (I took this from my 24V common)
FWD ---> Pin 7, Port 1

In the UCCNC software:
Spindle config screen: set "PWM Pin" to Pin 7, Port 1
I/O Setup screen: set "Spindle PWM -> analog ch" to 1

On the VFD:
Parameter 00.01 set to 1
Parameter 07.08 set to 3
 
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That's the kind of specific, detailed information that represents, IMHO, the highest function of the forum. :clapping:
 
DavidR8 said:
Thank you!
It took a bunch of Google-Fu to get close to the right settings so thought I'd document for the next person.
Click to expand...
Exactly. No telling how many gray hairs you've prevented for the next pilgrims.
I Know because I'm a mostly gray haired novice electronics pilgrim. :grin:
 
In the spirit of keeping up the detailed info thought I'd pass along my some new-found knowledge.

Good documentation was always a thing for me and this project has proven just how important it is. The manual for the AXBB-E board is good but the UCCNC manual could use a good dose of explaining what settings do.

I was having a heck of a hard time setting up soft limits on my machine and I would never have figured out the soft limit thing had someone not explained two things:

1) A different screen set was available that showed both work and machine coordinates at the same time. This let me see that homing zeroed the work coordinates but not the machine coordinates.
This is the screen set that I had to find.
This is a shot after homing. Notice the Work Co. are zero but the Machine Co. for Y is -429.7450.
So when I enabled the Y axis soft limit of -264, the controller immediately said "Whoa there big fella, you're already out of bounds, you ain't going anywhere!" (or something that :laughing:)
screen cap.jpg

2) The purpose of the "Auto Set" checkbox. As soon as I checked this box and homed the machine all the coordinates set to zero which allowed my Y soft limit of -264 work. (This is not a screen shot of my software but an example)
screen cap 2.jpg
 
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Looks like you need to get some compression bits so you don't get all that edge fuzz. PM me and I'll send you some of our bits that have been take out of service because they have started to show signs of melamine edge wear. Likely run fine for most home projects and if nothing else will give you a chance to evaluate their performance. You can buy Onsurd's coated bits, 3/8" compression spirals abut $85 after bulk discounts, excellent bits. Run @ 16,000rpm & 600"/min. feed.
 
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